This invention relates to a novel protein composition derived from animal muscle tissue, a process for making the protein composition and to a process for retaining moisture in food, cooked or uncooked.
At the present time, it is desirable to retain moisture in cooked or uncooked food so that drying of the food during the cooking process is minimized. It is also desirable to retain moisture in cooked or uncooked food so that the natural food flavors are retained in the food even after cooking.
A common occurrence of moisture loss occurs when a frozen food is thawed such as prior to cooking the food. The thawed food experiences drip loss wherein a liquid aqueous composition such as water is formed and becomes separated from the solid thawed food.
A second common occurrence of moisture loss occurs when an uncooked food is cooked. Liquid moisture in the food becomes vaporized during the cooking process and migrates to the food surface where it evaporates or separates as a liquid from the solid food being cooked.
At the present time, a variety of additive compositions are added to food, primarily by injection, by vacuum tumbling and/or with syringes. Prior attempts to retain moisture in cooked meat or fish with additives have included the use of sodium tripolyphosphate, starches, vegetable fibers, a coating of fat free flour based batter containing an egg white substitute (U.K. Patent Application 2,097,646), water-in-oil emulsion (U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,081), protein or protein isolate and a fat (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,031,261 and 4,935,251), milk solids (U.S. Pat. No. 2,282,801) and lecithin (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,470,281 and 3,451,826).
An example of such a composition also is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,364 wherein an acidic protein composition derived from animal muscle tissue is added to a food prior to cooking in order to retain moisture in the food during cooking. The acidic protein composition is one obtained by mixing a food grade acid composition with comminuted animal muscle tissue to obtain an acidic protein composition. Suitable processes for obtaining the acidic protein composition are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,073; 6,288,216; 6,136,959; 6,451,975 and/or 7,433,764 all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a form of fish or meat which can be thawed and/or cooked while retaining its moisture and natural flavors or added flavors. In addition, it would be desirable to provide such a form of fish or meat wherein the majority of moisture or added flavors in the uncooked fish or meat is retained during cooking.